This is a collection of tough-minded roots-rock tunes by a
singer-songwriter from Southern California with a deep, ragged,
world-weary voice who sings from the gut and writes from dark regions of
his soul. He’s a former Orange County punk rocker who was in a band
called Pig Children. His sound is softer now, but it still hits hard.

The first song that
grabbed me by the throat here is “Prison Town.” With an arrangement and a
guitar hook that reminds me of Steve Earle’s “Guitar Town,” Richards
sings about living in a place where the main industry is the corrections
system and “the air’s so thick I thought I’d drown.” In this town,
everyone seems like some sort of inmate. “Saw prisoner’s kin with broken
lives/Heard the guards all braggin’ they beat their wives/It’s only pain
that makes a sound/There ain’t no love in a prison town,” Richards
growls.

The ravages of liquor is a
theme that pops up in various tracks. The title song starts out with
the line “Monday drunk in Barstow, Tuesday couldn’t care/Wednesday
night, sick with fright and headin’ for nowhere.” And “Alcohol Dreams”
starts off, “Woke up standing against a bar somewhere, time was sitting
still.” And, of course, it gets worse: “If the bartender could read my
mind, man he’d call the police/They’d put me in a straitjacket, nobody
here would sign my release.”

Richards shows a glimpse
of dark humor on the blues-rocker “Down on Blues,” which starts out, “I
got a job, I hate my job. I got a girl, she hates me.” Later he
complains, “I got swine flu, I got jungle rot/Ain’t no disease
exists that I don’t got.”

Richards is backed by a
highly capable band that includes former Santa Fe resident Tony
Gilkyson, (who’s picked his guitar with Lone Justice, X, Chuck E. Weiss
and others) and John Bazz of The Blasters. The album is on a label run
by Stevie Tombstone, who knows a thing or two about dark, mournful roots
sounds. All in all, it’s an impressive solo debut album by an artist
who deserves a wider audience.◀- Steve Terrell